Thinking of throwing in the towel....

Well I've had my 40 breeder tank for about 4 years now with plenty of ups and downs! I have 7 small fish and a couple softies. We're building a house soon, so I don't want to add anything else. After we move, my dream was to upgrade to a much larger tank with sump in basement. I've been doing some research and OMG the equipment I will need is so expensive!! I don't know if I would be able to swing it for the "proper" equipment.
So my new idea is to retire my salt tank, and upgrade to a larger cichlid tank. I find them to be the only fish almost as beautiful as marine fish.
Does this seem like a dumb idea? Has anyone done this? Right now I'm only running a canister filter, so I'm thinking my constant battles with the tank are because of lack of equipment and RO water. Should I save up and stay in salt? Or cheap out?

 

I think you may miss salt.. especially if you have corals.
There is a lot of unexpected costs with bigger tanks if you don't really think it through or have a solid plan to mitigate costs efficiently.
No one can really say what is best for you but maybe consider a more traditional Sump with refugium/fish only. Plenty depends on your budget and desires but salt can certainly be more expensive. We don't want to see you go though.

 

I think it's really up to you. My own personal experience has been that is much easier to run a FOWLR salt tank than a reef tank. It doesn't require specialized lighting and other things that are needed for a reef tank (testing, dosing, media). If you are a DIYer and understand plumbing, there are some low cost options for a sump. FO are so much more forgiving in terms of parameters.

Personally, I could never go back to FW only.

 

I'm thinking I wouldn't be happy without saltwater. There's so much variety. Grrr this is tough

 

7 fish in a 40? I hope they were SMALL fish!

Good luck whatever you choose.

 

They are, 2 damsels 2 clowns, yellow watchman goby, lawn mower blenny, and a coral beauty

 

imHo- too many fish for a SW setup/gallon.

 

well, that may be your decision. You obviously like fish a lot so FO may be the way to go.

 

Stay in salt, you'll miss it. Personally I don't think your overstocked at all. I have a chiclid tank too and it would come down before my salt tank would.

 

That's what I'm afraid of! Making the wrong choice. I'm hoping to go to at least 180 gallon. I'm leaning toward staying in salt. It's so rewarding to be able to do it and have corals grow